Chichagov city council building. Architect Dmitry Nikolaevich Chichagov

Dmitry Chichagov is a Russian architect, a master of eclecticism and pseudo-Russian style. He was the chairman of the construction commission of the Polytechnic Exhibition and was a member of the Commission for the Preservation of Monuments of the Imperial Moscow Archaeological Society. According to Chichagov's designs, the Moscow City Duma, the Turgenev Reading Room, the Alekseevskaya School, the Chapel of St. Alexander Nevsky and many other buildings in Moscow were built.

Master of historical eclecticism

Dmitry Chichagov was born in 1835 in Moscow. His father, Nikolai Chichagov, was a famous Moscow architect - he built the Cathedral of Christ the Savior and the Grand Kremlin Palace. He dreamed that his son would continue the professional dynasty, and in 1850 Dmitry Chichagov entered the Moscow Palace School of Architecture.

In 1859, the young man graduated from college and stayed to teach here. Chichagov worked at his alma mater for six years and combined teaching activities with design. In 1866 he moved to the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. Here Fyodor Shekhtel and Ivan Mashkov, who later became famous Moscow architects, interned with him.

Together with other architects, Dmitry Chichagov founded the Moscow Architectural Society, a creative association of Moscow architects and civil engineers. They studied ancient Russian architecture, organized congresses of architects, and organized competitions and exhibitions of professional achievements. Several years after the creation of the society, Chichagov became its chairman. His contemporary Vasily Maklakov recalled: “In the advice of the architect D. N. Chichagov to correct shortcomings without destroying the building itself, there was that rule of statesmanship that not only my generation lacked».

Dmitry Chichagov's first success came in 1879, when he built a two-story mansion for industrialist Vikula Morozov. The façade of the neo-Baroque building resembled a painted gingerbread. The interiors were designed in different historical styles: some rooms were colorfully decorated with marble and rare types of wood, others were inlaid with precious stones and decorated with mirror shades. This work brought fame to the architect as a master of historical eclecticism.

In 1871, Dmitry Chichagov became chairman of the construction commission of the Polytechnic Exhibition in Moscow, at which participants presented the achievements of the Russian Empire in the fields of agriculture, industry, military affairs, science and culture. Chichagov was the main architect of the exhibition and created most of the buildings for it. Largely thanks to these buildings, the Russian style, which was used at that time mainly in church and country architecture, entered civil architecture. Later, many exhibits became the basis of the collections of the Polytechnic and Historical Museums.

Construction of the Moscow City Duma

City Duma, Moscow. Old pre-revolutionary postcard. Photo: Yuri Kobzev / photobank “Lori”

Dmitry Chichagov. Photo: um.mos.ru

City Duma, Moscow. Modern building. Photo: Elena Koromyslova / photobank “Lori”

In 1876, Dmitry Chichagov got a job at the Commission for the Preservation of Monuments of the Imperial Moscow Archaeological Society. While working here, the architect carried out a detailed survey of the wall paintings and the ancient altar barrier, which were preserved in the Moscow Assumption Cathedral. Chichagov also created a carved marble iconostasis in the Russian-Byzantine style for the Church of All Saints of the former Novo-Alekseevsky Monastery.

In the early 1880s, the architect built a mansion for the Moscow mayor Nikolai Alekseev, and a few years later a small two-story house for his mother. According to Chichagov's design, the building, outbuildings and outbuildings formed a square - a closed rectangle. The end was decorated with an oval of intricate patterns with a large family monogram of the Alekseevs.

In 1888, a competition was announced in Moscow for the best plan for the building of the Moscow City Duma. According to the terms of the competition, the architects had to create facades in the style of architectural monuments of the 16th–18th centuries, so that they would correspond to the previously built Historical Museum, and the building itself would be worthy of the old capital of the Russian Empire. A total of 38 works were presented, including a project by Dmitry Chichagov. It was his building plan in the pseudo-Russian style that was recognized as the best. When construction began, problems were discovered with the foundation of the former Government Places where the building was supposed to be erected. As a result, a second competition was announced, and Dmitry Chichagov won again. The building of the Moscow City Duma became the first building in Moscow specially built for local governments.

In the new project, Chichagov expanded the passage to Red Square and strengthened the ceiling: he replaced the wooden vaults with concrete ones on metal beams. In the decoration, the architect used numerous Russian pattern motifs, but left the decor of the facades laconic and strict. He highlighted only a few details especially clearly: the huge arched windows of the third floor, the wide upper frieze and the exaggeratedly massive central entrance. Initially, the architect planned to paint the building light gray, but then made it red. Thus, he successfully integrated the eclectic building into the ensemble of surrounding buildings built in different eras.

Temples, estates and apartment buildings of Dmitry Chichagov

Children's music school named after N.A. Alekseeva. Photo: Dmitry Neumoin / photobank “Lori”

The building of the library-reading room named after I.S. Turgenev. Photo: mmsk.ru

Facade of gymnasium No. 1520 named after the Kaptsovs. Photo: Dmitry Neumoin / photobank “Lori”

In 1893, the architect built the building of the Kaptsov gymnasium. The building resembled a Scandinavian castle with a peaked roof and turrets. The roof was crowned with several high figured pediments. The entire building was made in two traditionally Scandinavian colors - red and white.

In total, 33 buildings were erected according to the design of Dmitry Chichagov. The architect designed the interiors and iconostasis of the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity and supervised the major renovation of Moscow's Assumption Cathedral. Also, according to his plan, the chapel of St. Alexander Nevsky was built in memory of the liberation of the Slavs from the Turkish yoke. He had several rebuilt city estates and apartment buildings to his credit - he was known and in demand among the Moscow nobility. Many of its buildings were destroyed during the Soviet era: for example, in 1972, the building of the oldest free library-reading room named after Ivan Turgenev in Moscow was demolished. Among the surviving buildings of Chichagov are the Alekseevskaya school, the Kaptsovsky school, and the building of the City Duma.

Dmitry Chichagov died in 1894 at a dacha in Novy Kuntsevo near Moscow. The Moskovskie Vedomosti newspaper published an obituary: “Out of a number of buildings produced by D.N. Chichagov, we will point to the new building of the Moscow City Duma, built according to his design and under his supervision. The deceased was a member of the Construction Council at the City Government and an architect at the Main Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Death of D.N. Chichagova is a great loss for the Moscow Architectural Society, which is currently busy organizing the second congress of Russian architects in Moscow.".

The architect was buried at the Vagankovskoye cemetery, and a monument according to his own design was erected on his grave.

The building of the Moscow City Duma is adjacent to the Historical Museum and is part of a wonderful pseudo-Russian ensemble. This was the first building specially built in Moscow for local governments. Its purpose predetermined its appearance and architecture. Agree, the City Council building is very representative, but the decor of the facades is somewhat laconic and strict, which gives off an eclectic style. But there are a few particularly striking details: huge arched third-floor windows, a wide crowning frieze and an exaggeratedly massive central entrance. Perhaps the history of this house will help us understand the features of its decoration.

The City Duma appeared in Moscow in 1785 by decree of Empress Catherine II. Then it was called “six-vowel” because it consisted of the city mayor and six vowels. Over the course of a hundred years, the number of deputies and the functions of the Duma changed more than once. In 1863, the Moscow City Duma was formed by five estates. Before the 1917 revolution, Moscow's bills could be influenced by representatives of almost all major classes. The Moscow City Duma has changed its address more than once. In Catherine’s times, it occupied the building of the Provincial Government Offices on Red Square. After increasing the number of vowels, she moved to the Sheremetevs’ house on Vozdvizhenka.

In 1888, on the initiative of Moscow mayor Nikolai Alekseev, architect Dmitry Chichagov developed a design for a new building of the Moscow City Duma. Construction was completed in 1892. Chichagov used the foundation and even the southern part of the Mint, which had been located here since the 18th century. The use of the foundation predetermined the symmetry of the front facade, deployed along the square. Chichagov planned to paint the building light gray. So it’s quite possible that we wouldn’t see such familiar red walls now. They say that Nikolai Alekseev influenced the choice of wall color. Deputies met in the new building until 1917.

After the revolution, the Moscow City Duma was abolished. On the Duma building above the main entrance, instead of the coat of arms of Moscow, a round relief depicting a worker and a peasant was installed. In the 1930s, the building was converted into a museum of Vladimir Lenin. Unfortunately, the original interior decoration has been lost. It was this museum that the famous children's poet Sergei Mikhalkov wrote about in one of his poems as “a large, beautiful red house, like a palace.” Since the 1990s, the former building of the Moscow City Duma belongs to the Historical Museum. In 2012, the Museum of the Patriotic War of 1812 was opened in the courtyard.

Check out this impressive building. With all the rigor and laconism of the facade design, there is something to take a closer look at. Chichagov used numerous motifs of Russian patterns. The symmetry of the composition is highlighted by the central porch with beautiful hanging weights, which is placed strictly on the main axis of the building. The high, complex shapes of the roof are a direct connection with buildings built nearby in different eras, but in a similar style. It’s good that there is now a pedestrian zone around the former city council, and the building can be walked around from different sides. We can only hope that soon the coat of arms of Moscow will be returned to its original place - above the main entrance.

Denis Drozdov

D. N. Chichagov is the son of the builder of the Grand Kremlin Palace N. I. Chichagov, the brother of the architect Mikhail and the artist Konstantin Chichagov. In 1850-1859 he studied at the Moscow Palace Architectural School. In 1871-1872 - chief architect of the Polytechnic Exhibition in Moscow. He first became famous as the builder of V. E. Morozov’s house (21 Podsosensky Lane).

In 1888 he won the first competition of designs for the building of the Moscow City Duma on Voskresenskaya Square (a total of 38 projects were submitted). After the results were summed up, problems with the foundations b. The public places where the building was planned to be located, and the need to expand the passage to Red Square. Therefore, the Duma organized a second competition among the authors of the best works of the first round, and Chichagov won again. In the new project, wooden floors were replaced with concrete vaults on iron beams. Externally, Chichagov planned to paint the building light gray, and the red color was chosen upon completion of construction (1890-1892). In addition to the Duma building, during the reign of city mayor N.A. Alekseev (which coincided with the last decade of the architect’s life), Chichagov built many public buildings in Moscow, including the Turgenev reading room at the Myasnitskie Gate, which was destroyed in the 1970s, and the surviving Alekseev school on Nikoloyamskaya street (now the music school named after N. A. Alekseev). He designed public buildings and churches for provincial cities - in total, Chichagov’s track record includes 33 completed projects.

D. N. Chichagov is one of the founders of the Moscow Architectural Society, in the last year of his life he was the chairman of the MAO. Such architects, who later became famous, as F. O. Shekhtel and I. P. Mashkov, interned with Chichagov. “In the advice of the architect D. N. Chichagov to correct shortcomings without destroying the building itself, there was that rule of state wisdom that not only my generation lacked” - V. A. Maklakov, memoirs, chapter 3.

He was married twice (his first wife, Lidia Mikhailovna, was the daughter of M. D. Bykovsky, the sister of K. M. Bykovsky. Like all men in the Chichagov family, he died relatively early, leaving behind eleven children. Five of them became famous artists - successors of the Chichagov dynasty:

Chichagov, Alexey Dmitrievich (1875-1921), architect

Chichagov, Konstantin Dmitrievich (1867-1919), art historian

Chichagova-Rossinskaya, Elena Dmitrievna (1874-1971), artist

Chichagova, Galina Dmitrievna (1891-1966), artist

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The creator of landmark monuments for Moscow in the 19th century - the Turgenev Reading Room, the Moscow City Duma, churches, schools and other public buildings. During the Soviet years, many of Chichagov's works were destroyed.

Biography

D. N. Chichagov is the son of the builder of the Grand Kremlin Palace N. I. Chichagov, brother of the architect Mikhail and artist Konstantin Chichagov. B - studied at the Moscow Palace Architectural School. B - Chief Architect of the Polytechnic Exhibition in Moscow. He first became famous as the builder of V. E. Morozov's house (21 Podsosensky Lane).

In addition to the Duma building, during the reign of city mayor N.A. Alekseev (which coincided with the last decade of the architect’s life), Chichagov built many public buildings in Moscow, including the building of the oldest city public free library in Moscow, demolished in 1972. . I. S. Turgenev at the Myasnitsky Gate and the preserved Alekseevskaya school on Nikoloyamskaya street (now the music school named after N. A. Alekseev). He designed public buildings and churches for provincial cities - in total, Chichagov’s track record includes 33 completed projects.

D. N. Chichagov is one of the founders of the Moscow Architectural Society, in the last year of his life he was the chairman of the MAO. Chichagov trained such architects who later became famous as F. O. Shekhtel and I. P. Mashkov. “In the advice of the architect D. N. Chichagov to correct shortcomings without destroying the building itself, there was that rule of statesmanship that not only my generation lacked” -

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